The German-made Roger guitars were not made by famed guitar designer Roger Rossmeisl; they were named for him. It was his father, Wenzel Rossmeisl, who started using the Roger brand as a guitar distributor in the late 1930s.

Rossmeisl began building jazz guitars in Berlin shortly after WWII. At the request of jazz guitarist Coco Shumann, and with the help of his then-teenagered son, Rossmeisl made what may have been the first electric guitar ever built in Germany.

In the early 1950s, Roger Rossmeisl left for America, where he enjoyed a successful career designing guitars for Rickenbacker and Fender. Wenzel continued making mostly acousric jazz guitars under the Roger brand.

This semi-hollow Model 54 was one of his few true electrics, but with a spruce top and a pickguard that appeared to be housing the electronics, it showed that Rossmeisl’s heart was still with the acoustic guitar. The letter R in the tailpiece design of this 1960 Roger 54 no doubt inspired the “R” tailpieces that appeared on Rickenbackers in 1963.